Clean XP Install on new hard drive

Question

Please, if someone could help that would be great! :   Can I do a clean new installation on a brand new hard drive that was totally clean and needed everything re-installed but when doing so I probably messed up.   Just had a new hard drive installed in my inspiron 510m notebook. Installed Windows XP Home Edition, then most drivers, went on line to download SP2 but while online got a short driver warning but went so fast that I could not take a note and write it down. At the same time everything froze and as nothing happened, turned off the computer with the power button. When starting the computer again I did get the Dell start up screen and then the black windows start up screen, the the blue welcome screen but then only the background screen and my curser are visible, nothing else As I could hear it was doing something, left it like that for some time but the decided to turn it off with the power button. Via another PC visited the Dell forums and read the different tutorials on re-installing Windows, system recovery etc. Also tried to follow instructions via the F2 set up menu, putting  CD on top of the list in the boot section, saving, exiting, putting the CD in and re-starting. I do get the black screen and CD boot message to press. However, then I get  the Dell screen and Windows start up screen, start up Welcome and then again only background screen and curser visible. There is no doubt meanwhile it's doing something as once a while the sandtimer appears but did not dare to leave it on as it just stayed like that and again turned off the computer using the power button.   The main difference with the problem I have is that I have a brand new hard drive and was not trying to restore etc. but tried a new installing of XP, dirvers etc.  By following the tutorials I must have triggered some re-storing and most likely took some wrong steps.   Can I clean the HD totally and start all over again? and how?   Any help would be very appreciated. 07-09-2006 01:52 AM Edit Message Add This Message to My Favorites Add This Message to My Notifications Highlight This Message Print This Message Print to End (Max 50) E-Mail this Message to a Friend Report Abuse to a Moderator

boppo · Answer

just remove the partitons by booting from the cd.

Henry1 · Answer

Thanks my friend! However, I had also posted the message in the Windows XP forum and got similar suggestions and in the end managed to get a clean installation. Appreciate the reaction. Best

boppo · Answer

glad you got it to work for ya.

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